X, formerly known as Twitter, was acquired by Elon Musk on October 27, 2022, for a confirmed price of $44 billion (or $54.20 per share), taking the company private and ending its status as a public entity. Since then, its financial story has been defined by dramatic revenue volatility and significant shifts in perceived value.

• Revenue Contraction: The company’s core business experienced a significant financial drop.3 Pre-acquisition, revenue was $5.1 billion (2021), but this plunged to an estimated $2.9–$3.4 billion in 2023 due to a mass advertiser exodus.

• Adjusted Profitability: Through massive cost-cutting, X reported an Adjusted EBITDA of $1.25 billion for 2024, nearly double the pre-acquisition level, despite lower top-line revenue.

• Debt Load: The company is burdened by approximately $13 billion in debt from the buyout, costing over $1 billion annually in interest payments.

• Valuation Swings: X's private valuation experienced extreme swings, dropping as low as $12.5 Billion in late 2023 (according to investor Fidelity) before rebounding to an estimated $44 billion in a secondary funding round in early 2025.

A Riveting Fact: This financial recovery and valuation rebound were strongly aided by the strategic integration with Musk's AI company, xAI (developer of Grok), which uses X's data and was later confirmed to have acquired X in an all-stock deal valuing X at $33 billion.